Absolutes and Brian Function

By: Ali D.

On the subject of Argument and Logic I have had quite a bit of experience since my freshman year of high school till my now second semester of college.  Argumentation to me is being able to state your point and get it across clearly and cleanly while logic is used to back up your claims and support your details.

Things have always been slightly harder for me because every time I argue my point I get discouraged or someone shoots me down and I retreat inward and run away for it.  Probably not the best thing in the world to do because people see me as a pansy sometimes but it is how I avoided a lot of bullying when I was younger. 

Now as I have gotten older and had different outlooks on life I realized that I could argue my point with logical things to back up my point and make it seem more valid to others and keep people from bullying me as much.  Well that actually backfired on me in my senior year of high school.

 I was arguing a point in my English class and from the back corner of the room all I could hear were the words “Sit down and shut your fat mouth already, you’re too smart for your own good.  Things like that could get you in trouble one day.”  All my hard work seemed to go down the drain but instead of crawling back into myself and turning away I faced it head on and stuck with my point.

I finished my argumentative speech and then at the end I looked toward the back corner, smiled and said, “Just because I am too smart for my own good in your eyes doesn’t mean I won’t go places.  A teacher always had a motto that said ‘Be nice to the geeks and nerds, you never know when you might be working for one of them.’ So no matter what you say to me I will keep doing my best cause I know I can.”

Now looking back on everything I have done when it comes to arguments and logic I realize that all I have to do is remember that all the knowledge in the world is waiting to be unlocked and logic is the key, arguing can help you get past the problems in your way to using your logic.

Deadly Life Giver

by: Ali D.

The chemical spill which caused the water problem in much of southern central West Virginia is disgusting.  The crude MCHM coal processing chemical could be completely lethal in the long term for humans and animals, the studies haven’t actually shown what the effects could be. 

The rats used within the study to test the main chemical in MCHM died but it was hard to tell if it was from the actual chemical or other factors because there were many different things going on biologically with the test subjects so it is still unknown how lethal the chemicals actually are. 

With this new information surfacing about the water supply in West Virginia and the contaminates that could be in our water scares me.  I admitted it; the idea of one day not being able to drink, cook with or even bathe in the water in our pipes is frightening.  I didn’t personally go through the water ban but I had friends and family within the affected area and I know how hard it was and still is for them.

 My family had three family members staying with us because they were told to leave their house.  They had a strong smell of black licorice in every inch of their home; it was so bad that their clothes even smelled like it. 

The company which is responsible for creating and distributing this chemical is Monsanto, a corporate giant which has been in the public’s eye in other ways.  A few years ago with the release of the documentary “Food Inc.” many people stopped eating products which they thought could have been Monsanto products.  These products included but were not limited to; dairy, eggs, chicken, beef, any raw meat and anything which wasn’t organic. 

Monsanto has a long history of not tying their loose ends together and when they did it was abrupt and they spend many millions of dollars to quiet people so things can’t show up in the media about them.  Thus why when this chemical spill reared its head and the press caught wind most of the people who knew it was Monsanto were quieted but if you look up this product and go up the backwaters so to speak you will find that the root of the growing national problem is Monsanto. 

The people of West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection responded with what they could because of the information they were given from the corporation heads.  If another spill occurred within the state I feel that the DEP should press for more information in order to better serve the public and not pay attention to the money they are trying to shove in their pockets in order to quiet them. 

Now with the new development of the MCHM breaking down past 1ppm(parts per million) and forming formaldehyde which is known to cause cancer is something that makes me shiver and my skin crawl.  I have been following this problem closely and I feel like someone should be doing something and it might not be the problem of if another spill occurs but when and where…